Seed sowing for beginners

I finally did plant my Morning Glory, Ipomoea "Heavenly Blue" outside in a big pot today. The weather is warm and it is a sheltered spot, and it has a good sunny wall with trellis netting. And a sweet pea as a companion. 24th March, fingers crossed that it survives. It was pot bound in its little indoor pot, and was trying to climb higher than I could give it support for up the kitchen window.

 

I have some recently germinated Morning Glory that were in a propagator, on a heat mat. Yesterday I took them out of the propagator but still left them on the heat mat and this morning they looked nipped by the cold (in my potting shed/workshop).

 

Haven't even sown mine yet!! Too early to go out yet imo.

 

My packet of "Grandpa Ott" seeds says they can be direct sown outside from May, so if the "Heavenly Blue" plant fails I will put it down to learning what not to do. I don't think it would have survived for another month in a tiny pot on my kitchen window sill. Its roots had filled the pot, and it was running out of space to climb.

 

I've grown 'Morning Glory' plants for goodness knows how many years & I never sow them before May. Earlier & they just don't survive. I have lots of strings running from the top of the railings on the balcony to the ceiling. I guide them up the strings & they mostly flower very well. I've got some seeds I've collected from last year that I will sow in May.

 

Ten days later & they were all broken down by a terrible wind!

 

Do you sow them straight in the ground or do you start them off in a propagator?

 

As I garden on a balcony I sow them in the long white troughs you see in the photos above. I've never put them in a heated propagator as it isn't necessary - in fact very few seeds need this treatment at all. Practically the only seeds I sow in a propagator are tomato seeds for quicker germination, (3 days), though they will germinate perfectly fine without any heat. In fact I sowed my tomato seeds this year & didn't put them in the propagator at all & they germinated in 7 days!

 

Thanks. I have plenty Morning Glory seeds left so I will wait until May and sow them in their flowering position.

 

I'm enjoying this thread ,it's very helpful

Tara for starting it off.

 

My Morning Glory "Heavenly Blue" has been fine up until today, it seemed to enjoy the warm spell and bright sunshine and was climbing further up the trellis netting. I noticed today that some of the lower leaves are definitely wilting a bit, though the top leaves seem ok. Photographs below taken today.

Night time temperatures are predicted to fall below zero for a couple of hours over the weekend. If it make it through that the temperatures will get back to normal.

 

Oh dear!! It is only a half hardy annual and shouldn't really be outside yet, much too early. I would've sowed it later and begun gardening off mid May.

Fingers crossed but it does state that cold weather and chilly winds are definitely not good for the young plant .

 

I brought the whole pot indoors with the Morning Glory "Heavenly Blue" in it.

It is so cold outside, it would definitely die if it stays outside tonight when the temperature drops even more. I will keep it inside for a few days until the warmer weather returns. I could be too late, but it is worth trying. Some of its leaves have wilted, it definitely doesn't like the cold.

 

I have already lost some Osteospermum I put in a hanging basket.

 

That Morning Glory "Heavenly Blue", whose seed I planted back in February and struggled with, that I thought had probably died in a late frost after which I brought it indoors for a few days on 31st March, and then put it back outside after the frost...many of its leaves did turn brown and eventually fell off, and it struggled to grow but it did grow a little bit taller and clung to the netting trellis and produced a lot of flower buds and a few fresh leaves. It is maybe about 30 inches tall, having grown only about 2 inches since it nearly died in early April.

This morning I went out to be greeted by its first flower. Seeing this little flower lifted my soul.

I did later plant a lot more Morning Glory seeds, both "Heavenly Blue" and "Grandpa Ott", after mid May as people on this forum advised, and they are growing but they are nowhere near flower buds stage or as tall as the February sown "Heavenly Blue".